Patterned fabric and process of producing the same



Patented Sept. 12, 1939 UNITED STATES PATTERNED FABRIC AND PROCESS OF PRODUCING THE SAME Georges Heberlein and Georg Heberlein, Wattwil, St. Gallen,

Switzerland,

assignors to Heberlein Patent Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York No Drawing. Application August 26, 1937, Serial No. 161,024. In Germany September 3, 1936 21 Claims.

This invention relates to cellulose-containing fabrics of a transparent character and embodying pattern effects.

The United States patents to Albert Bodmer, Nos. 1,688,798-9, granted October 23, 1928, reference to which is hereby made, disclose methods for producing fabrics according to which pattern effects are provided thereon, by using woven material containing unnitrated threads and also nitrated cellulosic threads, portions of the latter threads being decomposed with alkali and removed according to a desired or predetermined pattern or design.

According to the present invention, the fabrics produced by such methods may be further processed with a transparentizing treatment which serves to greatly enhance the attractive appearance of such fabrics, while at the same time preferably being such as to maintain a softness and suppleness of the fabric approaching that of the original untreated material and preferably nearly uniform throughout the different areas of the pattern. At the same time the transparentizing treatment is preferably such as to cause the edges or outlines of the dense pattern areas to become more pronounced or clearly demarcated, thus giving these areas a more realistic appearance of embroidery. Also if desired, according to this invention, the transparentizing or parchmentizing treatment may be such as to cause the dense pattern areas to assume a greater degree of stiffness than the background areas. That is, the background areas may be maintained either in a soft, supple condition, or stiffened only to a degree such that the parchmentized and relatively more stiff pattern areas provide by contrast, a more pronounced patterned or embroidered effect.

The invention accordingly consists in the novel process or processes hereinafter described by way of examples and also in the resulting products, and will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In accordance with the processes more fully described in the above mentioned Bodmer patents, a fabric is first woven with a foundation or ground work of any suitable threads, such as cotton, or other threads of vegetable or cellulosic material (including artificial silk), said ground work having interwoven therein other threads or fibers of nitrated vegetable orcellulosic material such as nitrated cotton threads. That is, the nitrated threads may alternate singly or in numbers with the untreated threads of the foundation, or the nitrated fibers may be twisted with the unnitrated foundation threads or some of them. The

solubility of the nitrated yarns in caustic soda solutions is then utilized to obtain so-called caustic embroidery effects" in a manner such that by means of resist printing or by direct imprinting, the nitrated yarns are more or less destroyed in certain parts of the fabric so that they may be washed out, leaving the unattacked nitrated threads in an interrupted arrangement, presenting the desired or predetermined raised pattern effect on the foundation. Finally, according to said Bodmer processes, the lengths of nitrated yarns still remaining in portions of the fabric are preferably denitrated, whereby they lose their sensitiveness to alkalis and become less flammable. The fabric then contains on the one hand unchanged or natural yarns, and on the other hand yarns comprising cellulose which has been nitrated and then denitrated, i. e. yarns which contain the nitro-cellulose in an intermediate stage of some character, but which do not have any substantial nitrogen content after the denitration step has been carried out.

The present invention involves the surprising discovery that patterned fabrics made according to the above described Bodmer processes, and

which therefore consist partly of natural and partly of denitrated cellulose, may be subjected to a transparentizing treatment in exactly the same manner as if the fabric consisted exclusisively of the natural cellulose. Heretofore it would have been assumed that transparentizing or parchmentizing treatments of a strength sufficient to satisfactorily treat the natural cellulose would cause the denitrated cellulose to become stiffened to a prohibitive degree and hence become brittle and hard. It is known, for example, that so-called regenerated cellulose, in the form of viscose rayon and the like, does not behave chemically the same as natural cellulose. Thus the swelling property in alkali solutions is not the same. And solutions of natural cellulose in cuprammonium oxide have a considerably higher viscosity than those of regenerated cellulose, etc. It is of special significance that sulphuric acid and other swelling agents have a pronounced parchmentizing effect on textiles of regenerated cellulose, under conditions and in concentrations at which natural cellulose continues to resist such effect to any noticeable degree. It has, however, been found that fabrics prepared according to the above mentioned Bodmer processes and containing natural cellulose and denitrated cellulose fibers, may readily be processed with such transparentizing or parchmentizing treatments without any undue stiffening of the denitrated fibers.

Preferably according to the present invention, fabrics having the caustic embroidery effects produced in accordance with the above mentioned Bodmer processes,'after complete denitration of the nitrated yarns, and after bleaching in the usual way, may be given the soft transparentizing treatments such as described in the United States patent to Ernst Weiss, No. 1,985,- 124, granted December 18, 1934, reference to which is hereby made. In accordance with said processes, an initially soft cellulose-containing material is treated with sulphuric acid of a concentration above 50.5 B. at a temperature less than C., thereby producing a product of transparent character having a softness approaching that of the untreated material. In the production of transparentized fabrics, it is usually a problem of great importance to maintain the product with as nearly as possible, its original soft and supple feeling to the touch. That is, any stiffening of the chemically altered or denitrated cellulose which would exceed only slightly that customary in connection with the natural cellulose, would be exceedingly disturbing and might jeopardize the desirable soft transparent effect. It has, however, been discovered that with said 'Weiss transparentizing processes, the

yarns which have been nitrated and then fully fabric appears in general more noble and eleant.

The treatment of patterned fabric prepared according to the said 'Bodmer processes with a suitable transparentizing or soft transparentizing treatment as above described, also gives theresulting product a further highly advantageous and distinguishing characteristic, which will now be described. The yarns or fibers or denitrated cellulose remaining in the fabric in an interrupted arrangement, collectively form the raised pattern effects and the'ends of these denitrated yarns or fibers collectively constitute the contours or outlines of the raised pattern areas. It has been found that the action of the transparentizing or parchmentizing agent affects these ends of the yarn or fibers forming such outlines, in a manner different from the effect on the remainof the particular examples hereinafter given, ex-

cept as indicated in the appended claims:-

Examples 1. A fabric consisting of certain cotton threads or fibers, in the weft and cotton and suitably nitrated cotton in the warp such as nitrated cotton made up of the lower nitrates, is printed in a pattern with a caustic soda printing paste contaim ing a caustic solution of 36 B. The printing paste is dried and steamed for 8 minutes at 100 C. until sufficient action has occurred between the caustic soda and the nitrated cotton, whereupon the paste is washed off. This will result in a fabric in which portions have been eaten away where the caustic soda has been printed on, leaving in said portions however, threads which have not been eaten away and which are made up of unnitrated cotton comprising the background, but other areas not treated by the caustic soda will contain unnitrated cotton together with the nitrated cotton which has not been acted upon by the caustic soda. These latter portions will appear raised above the portions eaten away. The fabric is then subjected to denitration by treating it with a solution of sodium hydrosulphide (30 g. NaSH/litre) at 40 C. for 2 hours. (Although the previously nitrated fiber is thus substantially completely denitrated, traces of (N02) can .be found in the regenerated cellulose, thereby identifying the same as of nitro cellulose origin.) The material is then washed and bleached with an alkaline bleach. It is then given a soft transparentizing treatment by running it through a bath of sulphuric acid of 52 B.

for 7 seconds at 9 C. and immediately rinsed.

It is then mercerized, dried and finished.

As a modification of Example 1 there may be used a fabric containing cotton threads in the warp and mixed threads of suitably nitrated cotton fibers twisted with silk or wool and alternately together with cotton in the filler, the treatment being the same'as in Example 1.

2. A fabric consisting of cotton and nitrated cott'on threads in the warp and viscose threads in the weft is patterned, denitrated and bleached following Example 1. It is then given a transparentizing treatment by running it through a bath of sulphuric acid of 51 B. for 8 seconds at 15 C. and immediately rinsed. It is then dried and finished.

While as above indicated, the patterned effect fabric is preferably given a transparentizing treatment such that the fabric will be substantially uniformly soft and supple to the touch, throughout the different patterned areas, yet special effects may be obtained if desired by so carrying out the process that the transparentizing treatment will act with increased sensitivity on the portions of the yarn or fiber which has been nitrated. For example, after the caustic treatment for giving the embroidery effects has been applied, the remaining portions of the nitrated fiber may be only partially denitrated or if desired, left substantially in nitrated condition. In

this event the bleaching should be carefully accomplished so that alkaline bleaching solutions will not have opportunity to attack to any substantial degree, the partially denitrated yarns. If yarns are present which have not been-substantially denitrated, then the bleaching may preferably be accomplished as by the use of a soap solution or other suitable method avoiding the use of alkaline bleaching solutions. The yarns which have not been denitrated or which have been only partially denitrated, may then be parchmentized even'with relatively dilute sulphuric acid or in general under conditions at which there is no noticeable parchmentizing of the natural cellulose yarns. Thus, by varying the extent of the denitration, or by eliminating this step prior to the transparentizing treatment, the areas having the raised pattern effects on the fabric may be given 76 505 B. With the weaker acid concentrations,

the background of the pattern is left substantially unchanged. In this way the embroidery effect may be made more pronounced if desired in some cases. Although usually as above indicated, such irregular transparentizing and stiffening may not be desired, nevertheless in some instances it will make possible very desirable special effects in the finished fabric,

The following is an example of the embodiment of the invention last described above as we now prefer to carry it out:-

3. A fabric, such as initially used for the above described Example 1, is treated in accordance with such of the steps of Example 1 as precede the denitration step. Then, instead of denitrating in accordance with Example 1, the remaining nitrated fibers of the fabric are only partially denitrated by treating the same with a solution of sodium hydrosulphide (17.5 g. NaSH/litre) at 20 C. for 1 hour. The material is then washed and bleached by boiling it for 1 hour with a solution of 1% soda+0.5% Turkey red oil and treated for 1 hour with a solution of 2 g. active chlorine/litrewashed, boiled for hour with a solution of 1% soda+0.5% Turkey red oil, treated for 1 hour with a solution of 2 g. active chlorine/ litre and finally rinsed and dried. The material then comprises threads or fibers which have not been nitrated and which form the background, and at other areas conforming to the design of the desired pattern, the material also incldes threads or fibers which were initially nitrated and have been only partially denitrated, i. e., having a small nitro (N02) content. This material is then treated with sulphuric acid of 47 B. for 8 seconds at 15 C. in order to transparentize it. It is then rinsed, mercerized, dried and finished.

In the resulting product the background areas will be soft, supple and relatively free of any parchmentizing effect, whereas the raised areas will be substantially transparentized and somewhat stiffened. Still further special effects may be produced if desired by suitably dyeing with basic colors the yarns in the fabric which are not completely denitrated, while the background yarns are reserved.

The following are specific examples of forms of the invention embodying this latter special effect:-

4. A fabric treated according to Example 3 is further treated in a coloring bath, comprising for example either 0.2 g. Methylene Blue D/litre (for a blue product), or 0.2 g. Rhodamine 3 GO/litre (for a red product). The wetted material may be immersed in such dyeing baths without any addition of other substances to the dye bath, at room temperature and the bath is thereafter heated to -70" C. The material is dyed for a short period and rinsed. Alternatively the dyeing may be followed by a soaping treatment with 3 g. soap/litre.

The incompletely denitrated fibers are colored, by the basic dyestuff while the unnitrated cotton fibers remain uncolored or slightly colored.

While the invention has been described in de-' tail with respect to particular preferred examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention that the .various changes and further modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it is intended therefore in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A process of producing fabrics of a trans-' parent character and with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired design, substantially completely denitrating the remaining nitrated fibers, then treating the fabric with sulphuric acid of a concentration above 50.5 B. at a temperature lessthan about 0 0., whereby portions from which fibers have been removed as well as the other portions are given a transparent character while maintaining the softness thereof nearly uniform and near to that of the untreated material.

2. A process of producing fabrics of a transparent character and with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired de sign, and subjecting the fabric to a parchmentizing treatment which is more effective in stiffening the remaining nitrated fibers than the unnitrated fibers.

3. A process of producing fabrics of a transparent character and with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired design, at least partially denitrating the remaining nitrated fibers, and then subjecting the fabric to a parchmentizing treatment with acid of a concentration which is more effective in parchmentizing the partially denitrated fibers.

4. A process of producing fabrics of a transparent character and with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired design, and while portions of the fibers remain in at least partially nitrated condition, subjecting the fabric to a transparentizing treatment acting to stiffen the fabric irregularly according to said design. I

5. A process of producing fabrics of a transparent character and with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired design, at least partially denitrating the remaining nitrated fibers, and subjecting the fabric to a transparentizing treatment of a character adapted for rendering said last named fibers more transparent.

6. A process of producing fabrics of a transparent character and with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired design, substantially completely denitrating the remaining nitrated fibers, and subjecting the fabric to .a transparentizing treatment of a character adapted for rendering natural cellulose fabrics more transparent.

' 7. A process of producing fabrics of a transparent character and with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired design, at least partially denitrating the remaining nitrated fibers, and thereafter subjecting the fabric to a transparentizing treatment by the use of sulphuric acid of a concentration between 45 8. A process of producing fabrics of a transparent character and with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nit ated fibers according to a desired design, at least partially denitrating the remaining nitrated fibers, and subjecting the fabric to a transparentizing treatment of a character adapted for rendering natural cellulose fabrics more transparent, and for causing the ends of the yarn of denitrated fibers which collectively form the outlines of the pattern effects to be somewhat thickened, rendering said outlines more pronounced.

9. A cellulose-containing fabric of a transparent character, including unnitrated natural fibers, and cellulcsic fibers having a small nitro (N02) content and having an interrupted arrangement in the fabric according to a predetermined design to give a pattern effect, and in which the areas occupied by said last named fibers are relatively parchmentized as compared with other areas.

10. A cellulose-containing fabric including unr a predetermined design to give a pattern effect,

said latter fibers being colored by a basic dyestuff while the unnitrated fibers are relatively less colored by such dyestuff.

12. A process of producing fabrics with pat tern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired design, partially denitrating the remaining nitrated fibers, and subsequently dyeing the fabric with a basic dyestuff whereby the partially denitrated fibers are colored and the unnitrated fibers are relatively less colored.

13. A process of producing fabrics of a transparent character and with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired design, partially denitrating the remaining nitrated fibers, subjecting the fabric to a transparentizing treatment, and dyeing the fabric with a basic dyestuff whereby the partially denitrated fibers are colored and the unnitrated fibers are relatively less colored.

14. A process of producing fabrics with pattern effects, which consists in taking for treatment a fabric containing unnitrated fibers and nitrated cellulosic fibers, decomposing and removing portions of the nitrated fibers according to a desired design, partially denitrating the remaining nitrated fibers, and subjecting the fabric to a sulphuric acid transparentizing treatment of a character adapted for rendering natural cellulose fabrics more transparent.

15. A cellulose-containing fabric including yam of natural fiber forming the background of a pattern, and other yarns of a different character formed of regenerated cellulose and containing a trace of a nitro group and so occurring in interrupted lengths in the fabric as to form pattern areas, said areas being of a transparent character, the portions of the latter yarn which collectively form the outlines of said areas, being in a relatively more swelled expanded condition giving said outlines a demarcated appearance sharply contrasting with adjacent fabric of transparent character.

16. A cellulose-containing woven fabric of pattern areas and the back ground areas both being somewhat transparent, the pattern areas being but slightly parchmentized and the background areas being soft and supple.

17. A cellulose-containing woven fabric, in-

cluding yarn which continues through the fabric without interruption and serves to form the background of a pattern, and other yarn of regen-.

erated cellulose and containing a trace of 8. nitro group and s0 occurring in interrupted lengths in the weave of the fabric as to form pattern areas,- the background areas being relatively transparent, and said pattern areas being relatively parchmentized as compared with the background areas.

18. A cellulose-containing fabric including unnitrated fibers, and cellulosic fibers having a small nitro (N02) content and having an interrupted arrangement in the fabric according to a pre- 7 determined design to give a pattern effect, said latter fibers being colored by a basic dyestuif while the unnitrated fibers are relatively less colored by such dyestuff, and the areas containing said interrupted fibers being relatively parchmentized as compared with other areas of the fabric.

19. A cellulose-containing fabric of a transparent and supple character, including unnitrated natural cellulose fibers continuing uninterruptedly through the fabric and serving to form a relatively transparent background of a pattern, and regenerated cellulose fibers substantially free of nitrogen content although containing a trace of a nitro group and having an interrupted arrangement in the fabric according to a predetermined.

21. A cellulose-containing fabric including unnitrated fibers, and regenerated cellulose fibers containing a trace of a nitro group and having an interrupted arrangement in the fabric according to a predetermined design to give a pattern effect, and in which the ends of yarn of the latter fibers which collectively form the outlines of the pattern effect are sufiiciently swelled to appear of a difierent character of yarn, giving said outlines a sharply demarcated appearance.

GEORGES HEBERLEIN. GEORG HECBERIEIN. 

